India's tour of England, 2018

Bolton’s ton guides Australia to eight-wicket win

Pooja Vastrakar scores maiden fifty

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India lost the first match of the three-match ODI series of the ICC Women’s Championship to Australia Women by eight wickets in Vadodara. Although the 76-run stand between Sushma Verma (41) and Pooja Vastrakar (51) lifted India to 200 after being reduced to 113 for seven; Nicole Bolton’s century took Australia to the finish line with ease.

After electing to bat, India were tested by the visitors with Amanda Jade Wellington (3/39) and Jess Jonassen (4/30) picking wickets at crucial junctures. After the departure of Smriti Mandhana with the hosts on 38, India suffered a batting collapse. While young Jemimah Rodrigues was caught behind on the one side by Jade Wellington, the bowler accounted for Punam Raut with the team on 60 for three. The rest of the middle-order then caved in. A superb diving catch by Nicola Carey at square-leg sent back Deepti Sharma while Megan Schutt drew an edge from Harmanpreet Kaur to leave India on 87 for five. Veda Krishnamurthy, who had bided her time, got out hitting Wellington towards covers and Shikha Pandey followed her back in the next over.

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Vastrakar then joined Verma in the middle and the pair stitched a 76-run stand to revive the Indian innings. While the wicketkeeper held one end up and looked to rotate the strike, Vastrakar took the attack to the Australians. The partnership ended with Verma holing out to deep mid-wicket with the team on 189 for eight. The No 9 bat then helped add 10 more runs to the tally. After reaching her maiden fifty, Vastrakar was caught at long-off where Rachel Haynes took the catch. Poonam Yadav then added a run to the total before being run out off the last ball of the innings.

Chasing 201, Bolton and Alyssa Healy got the Australians to a flying start. The partnership was ended by Pandey for 60, who claimed the wicketkeeper-bat as her 50th ODI scalp. However, the Australians continued to attack the Indian bowlers with Bolton leading the way. After a direct hit by Krishnamurthy ran out Meg Lanning at the non-striker’s end, Ellyse Perry joined the opener in the middle. Coming together 128 for two, the duo helped Australia to the finish line with 107 balls to spare.

India B triumph over Karnataka to lift Deodhar Trophy

R Samarth’s century in vain as Karnataka lose by six-wickets

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India B sailed to a six-wicket win over Karnataka in the final to lift the Deodhar Trophy 2017-18. The Shreyas Iyer-led team restricted the Vijay Hazare Trophy champions to a modest 279 runs. While R Samarth posted a fighting century (107), the rest of the lineup failed to complement him ably to post a stiff total. The India B openers - Ruturaj Gaikwad and A Eswaran - then set the tone for the chase while Iyer and Manoj Tiwary helped overhaul the target with eight balls to spare.

With Gaikwad (58 off 48) leading the way, India B got off to a good start in the grand finale. The opener stitched an 84-run stand with Eswaran until R More forced an edge from the batsman through to the wicketkeeper. After 40 runs, Hanuma Vihari returned to the dressing room having pulled Shreyas Gopal towards mid-wicket where K Gowtham took the catch.

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Eswaran continued to hold one end up as he built another partnership with the skipper to maintain the momentum. The duo had added 62 runs for the third wicket until the opener was castled by Gopal leaving the side on 186 for three.

Tiwary, the experienced campaigner, who had hit a century in the previous encounter in the league phase, then joined Iyer in the middle in the crucial phase to keep the chase on course.

A few lapses in the field too had helped India B as the batsmen attacked the Karnataka bowlers and found the ropes at regular intervals. With the duo gleaning runs off the attack, the game tipped in India B’s favour. With the finish line in sight though, Iyer departed for 61. However, the 83-run stand had taken the team to 269 for four and put them in the driver’s seat. With K S Bharat, the all-rounder then took India B to the target.

Earlier, Karnataka lost early wickets after electing to bat. While Mayank Agarwal was run out backing up, an Umesh Yadav delivery took the inside edge of Nair’s bat and knocked back his stumps leaving the team on 33 for two. 25 runs later, S Ahmed drew and edge from Pavan Deshpande through to the wicketkeeper. While wickets fell at the other end, Samarth stoically held one end up. Stuart Binny was the next to be sent back; bowled by Ahmed.

With the Karnataka innings wobbling at 64 for four, CM Gautam joined hands with Samarth. The pair chipped away at the attack to revive the innings. Their stand for the fifth wicket was worth 132 runs until Gautam was dismissed, but it helped lift Karnataka to a respectable total. After the wicketkeeper-batsman departed edging Jayant Yadav, Shreyas Gopal joined the top-order bat in adding useful runs to the total. 63 runs later, Gopal was sent back by Umesh leaving the team on 260 for two.

Samarth, who hit a gritty century, was the next to return to the dressing room taking the aerial route and leaving his side on 271 for seven in the penultimate over. With a ball left in the innings, A Mithun was run out. Gowtham was unbeaten on 10 as Karnataka finished on 279 for eight.